Marmaduke had formed his line of battle on the open field and in the town facing the Union lines, while a large force held the Springfield and Houston roads and banks of the Gasconade on the south of the town. Five pieces of artillery were in battery on a high bluff east of the town.
The battle was opened with artillery, and soon after a charge was made on our lines by Jeffery’s cavalry, seven hundred strong. Our infantry lying flat on the ground, sheltered by the brush, with guns cocked, coolly awaited the onset. With fierce yells the troopers came on at a gallop until close to our line, when a deadly fire smote them, horses and riders going down in death and confusion. The artillery opened on the disordered mass, which turned and fled from the field. All day charge after charge was made by the infantry on our lines, all of which were repulsed. Toward night the Confederates begun to retire on the Houston road, while Colonel Merrill, with the main body of his troops, retreated toward Lebanon. But the Twenty-first Iowa, not having received orders to retire, remained on the field long after dark, alone repulsing three charges of the enemy after their comrades had gone. After the last of the Confederates had retired from the field the Twenty-first moved off deliberately toward Lebanon, where the next day it joined the main body of the command. Of the two hundred twenty members of the regiment engaged in this battle, twenty-one were killed, wounded or missing. General Warren issued an address to his troops commending them in high terms for the gallant fight made against greatly superior numbers. It was a stubborn fight of 1,000 Union soldiers, with two cannon, for six hours, against more than 3,000 Confederates supported by five pieces of artillery. The enemy lost General McDonald and two colonels among the three hundred killed and wounded, while the Union loss was seven killed and seventy-one wounded and captured.
